They run forever.  

These costly improvements are pushing rents up.While effective rents (factoring in concessions) may be declining, asking rents remain high as landlords aim to maintain their property value.

For use as a bedroom one of the key factors is egress.

People have done this forever and creating a new name doesn't change anything.

I don't use a PM, but 10% seems reasonable to budget because a I think you can probably find someone for maybe 8% and then you factor in any additional fee for tenant placement.

If you are focused on getting multiple assets at once, consider this:1. you really don't have enough available capital to do this safely right now and you will buy cash flow properties with cap ex which you will need reserves for2. you need $15-20k in reserves for each property you buy so factor that in3. when you try to buy multiple properties to start, you end up missing the mark on your first one because you are collecting and not curating your portfolio

Not sure if you plan on pursuing a higher education, but that can be a factor that comes into play as well.

The most important factor is consistency, as jumping from one strategy to another over a short period is ineffective.

There are other considerations that may still make it impossible to permit the construction of the building even  if the by-right use permit is obtained and its important to have an architect closely examine how the proposed floor plans will layout to confirm egress &  bedroom windows + localized zoning overlays along with a  number of other factors.

However, when you factor in the HELOC, we have a negative / break-even cash flow (HELOC payments are about 25% of the revenue from both).